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Brief Synopsis – A man is framed for a crime and then is held captive for 20 years. Upon his release, he sets off to try and find the man who imprisoned him and figure out the reason why.

My Take on it – I knew absolutely nothing about this movie before I saw it and have never seen either of the two foreign language films this is based on which are supposedly both much better than this one is.

I’m not sure if Josh Brolin was the best casting choice because he isn’t normally perceived as an action hero type actor, but he works adequately here.

This movie is quite violent and involves some very adult themes so I don’t suggest that anyone without a strong stomach try to watch it. The original apparently has a scene where the characters eat a live octopus, so I’m glad Spike Lee spared us that.

I have heard that the studio cut down Lee’s original version by over an hour. I would possibly be interested to see that cut if it’s ever released since it apparently is filled with much more character development.

Due to the fact that this movie deals with some pretty powerful themes, I’m not sure if I’d run to re-watch this, but regardless it is done pretty well.

Bottom Line – Interesting story that has lots of twists in the narrative that has a big shock factor. Not a movie I would want to re-watch in the near future even though it is powerful. Recommended!

Have you seen the original? I haven’t but have no real desire to after seeing this one. I agree that parts of this are completely unnecessary, but on a whole it was worth watching once and I don’t regret seeing it even though the twists were too much for me 🙂

Yeah, it seems that the consensus is that the original is much better than this remake, so I think I’m gonna also eventually see it myself also!

Sometimes it’s better to see the remake first, then you can appreciate both. It’s like watching a movie that you like so much it inspires you to read the book and then after doing so, can’t watch the movie ever again. That has happened to me numerous times. The Prince of Tides (1991) was like that for me!